Bengali Style Mashed Dry Fish -We call it " Loitka Sutki"

This is a very famous dry fish dish  in Bangladesh specially found in Chittagone.We call it "Loitka Dry Fish" Or "Loitka Sutki".The recipy is not cooked in a regular way.People cook it as a treat  because lots of time and efforts are given in making this dish.As you can see total time spending on this dish is 3 hours.Its really very spicy and hot .But you can try  this recipy with any other dry fish too.Before you cook  the dry fish ,first of all you have to clean the fish  properly and get rid of the smell too. I will show you step by step how to do it .

Dry Fish cooked in a meaty way and tastes like meat.

Prep Time:1 hour
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time : 3hours

Ingredients:

5 cups of  Dry fish-named Loika (eventually it will become 4 cups after cleaning)

8 cups of chopped onion
1/4 cups of garlic cloves
2 bay leaf break into pieces
1 cinnamon stick break into pieces
2 pinch of cardamom powder
6 to 8 green chili
3 cups canola oil
1 tbsp salt or more
1 tbsp  red chili powder
1 tbsp ginger powder/paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chopped mint
1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Step 1:

Cut off the head,tail and wings of the dry fish.In a hot pan roast the fish  for 10 to 15 minutes between medium to low heat.Don't burn it just roast it , make it light brown like the image  shown.

Step 2:

Now transfer the roasted fish into lukewarm water.Leave it for 10 minutes.Now clean piece by piece of the fish properly .Descaled  also.Discard any burnt portion too.
1 Hour gone so fast.

Step 3:

From now on, you have to cook everything on a very very  very low heat and stir everything every other 5 minutes or else it will get burnt.


Now in a hot pan, add oil, onion, garlic,bay leaf,cinnamon stick.Cook slowly for 15 minutes.Now add all the spices except water and fish.


Sautee everything for 15 more minutes on a low heat.


Now add the dry fishes.Mix it properly and cook it for 60 to 90 minutes on a very very low heat.
Within the time frame you can add water.
Within these minutes, try to break the fishes into pieces.Don't leave the pan. Or else it will get burn. You can do other works too.
Stir every 5 minutes and break the fishes in to  pieces and at one point the fish,onion, spices will melt away with each other.

The whole house will be filled with fishy smell.Discard the dresses that you put on during  cooking .Take a shower properly.Or else You will smell like fishy.Spray the whole home properly. It make take 1 day to get rid of the smell.

You can keep the fish curry in a plantic box and keep in a refrigerator.



This fish goes well with Bengali naughty people's rice or white rice.

Enjoy and have fun.But making this recipy is not fun.Once in a while ,We cook it .


P.S The hands in the image are not my hands.My husband cooked the dish. This is his dish.:))